1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems that transfer broadcast content to volatile and/or non-volatile storage devices.
2. Background of the Invention
The storage and retrieval of broadcast content gained major popularity with the advent of the video cassette recorder (VCR). A user was able to tune their television to a station that had a program that they wanted to save and they simply inserted a storage device (e.g., VHS or Beta tape), moved the tape to the appropriate location, and began capturing the broadcast. Recently, other types of equipment have developed to perform similar functionality. These types of equipment include, for instance, DVD recorders (DVD-R) and set-top boxes that transfer the content to storage devices such as hard drives and buffer memory.
Both of these types of equipment are used in a manner that is similar to the manner in which VCRs are used. Each has its own storage device (i.e., a DVD or hard drive) and each storage device is of finite space. If a user is saving a long show, multiple shows, or begins saving the show when the storage device is near a state of overflow (i.e., it is almost full), there is a chance that the program the user is trying to save will be lost if the device becomes completely full. This is a frustrating problem for the average user, specifically when they want to save content when they are away from the home and cannot monitor how full the tape is.
Saving broadcast content in its simplest form comprises turning on a television set and pressing a record button on a VCR. More recently, VCRs, DVD recorders, and set-top boxes include interfaces, which allow users to schedule the transfer of shows at a later date or time. Using this interface, the user is able to input to the device a time and a channel and when it is the right time the device tunes to the channel and begins saving the show. This is useful, for instance, when the user is away from home and wants to see the show later.
Another modern interface allows the user to focus on a favorite show. For instance, a user may love Monday Night Football, which occurs every Monday night from 6:00 P.M to 9:00 P.M. So, the user may wish to transfer this broadcast to a storage device regardless of whether they are home or not. Using the interface, the user is able to set the system to save content for the three hours on Monday night when the football game is broadcast.
However, these schemes are inadequate because conflicts may arise in the scheduling system. Typically, a system is limited by the number of tuners it has. A one tuner system, for instance can either be used to save a show on a specific channel or watch the channel, however, the system cannot save content on one station and be used to watch another station. A two tuner system can be used to transfer and watch two different stations, but there is no current technique whereby a conflict is resolved when a user inadvertently schedules two or more shows to be saved at the same or overlapping time slots and there are not enough available tuners to perform the function.